The Youth Olympic Games are a very recent phenomenon. IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge was the first to suggest holding them in 2001, but this idea was approved only in 2007, at the IOC session in Guatemala. The first summer games were held in 2010 in Singapore, the first winter games will be held in 2012 in Innsbruck. They will be held, like the Olympics, once every four years, but, unlike it, the youth games will have a strong component of culture and education. In parallel with the sporting events, a corresponding program was organized, "focused on the Olympic spirit and Olympic values, the acquisition and development of skills, healthy lifestyles, social responsibility and (self) expression through digital media."
Therefore, Populous architects included schools, exhibition centers and other public facilities in the master plan, along with sports facilities and housing for athletes. In this master plan, the idea of using the structures after the games is immediately laid down, since it is almost more important than a short period of an international holiday. The project involves the comprehensive development of the new territory, and not the restructuring of the Olympic "legacy" after the fact. The first stage of construction includes more than 400 thousand m2 of various structures, as a result this number will increase to 3 million m2.
The architects took into account the picturesque landscape of Nanjing, located between the high hills on the banks of the Yangtze; on its territory there are lakes and numerous parks. Their main formal find was the motive of "Chinese lanterns": they will be depicted by new public buildings, appropriately illuminated at night.
N. F.
